For Pro Motocross, there is qualifying data back to 2007. This gives us nearly 20 full seasons to compare which riders have had the greatest improvement from their Qualifying Position to their Overall Finish at a single race.
In 2026, there is a rider who qualified 62nd place and still made it into the motos! More on that in a bit.
I’ll compare both the 450 and 250 class for this. There are some fairly big names throughout.
450 Class – Best Improvement from Qualifying to Overall
| Rank | Rider | Event | Qualifying Position | Overall Finish | Improvement |
| 1 | Jorge Prado | 2025 Budds Creek | 43 | 10 | +33 |
| 2 | Fredrik Noren | 2014 Ironman | 40 | 9 | +31 |
| 3 | Richie Owens | 2007 Glen Helen | 39 | 13 | +26 |
| Weston Peick | 2011 Washougal | 39 | 13 | +26 | |
| 5 | Toshiki Tomita | 2018 Unadilla | 35 | 10 | +25 |
| Brandan Leith | 2018 Southwick | 36 | 11 | +25 | |
| Josh Grant | 2012 Southwick | 32 | 7 | +25 | |
| 8 | Matthew Goerke | 2009 Steel City | 33 | 9 | +24 |
| 9 | Jarred Browne | 2009 Spring Creek | 35 | 12 | +23 |
| 10 | Cody Walker | 2026 Thunder Valley | 62 | 40 | +22 |
| Justin Brayton | 2014 Utah National | 32 | 10 | +22 | |
| Justin Brayton | 2016 Southwick | 31 | 9 | +22 | |
| Henry Miller | 2018 Ironman | 34 | 12 | +22 | |
| John Dowd | 2012 Southwick | 36 | 14 | +22 | |
| Kyle Chisholm | 2016 Southwick | 35 | 13 | +22 | |
| Kyle Mace | 2007 Glen Helen | 31 | 9 | +22 |
- The leader here is Jorge Prado for his last race on Kawasaki last year at Budds Creek. Prado attempted to not qualify for the race but he would get in anyway being in the Top 10 in points. He ended up finishing 10th and never raced a Kawasaki again afterwards.
- 2nd place here is Freddie Noren, what is interesting here is this was one of the years he was filling in for Factory Honda.
- Matthew Georke qualified 33rd at Steel City in 2009 and then finished 9th. The week before he won the Southwick overall.
- Cody Walker qualified 62nd this year at Thunder Valley! He then got into the race as a substitute in Moto 2 and finished 40th overall. This is the lowest qualifying spot to ever get into the Overall (Since 2007) The next closest is Austin Cozadd, who qualified 55th at Budds Creek 2025 and then finished 41st overall. Cozadd did qualify into both motos and was not a substitute.
- Two Justin Brayton instances on the list!
So what is the lowest qualifying position to still win or podium? Surprisingly not too low.
The lowest an overall winner has qualified is 12th – three instances, two from Ryan Dungey and one from Eli Tomac.
- Ryan Dungey – 2010 Thunder Valley
- Ryan Dungey – 2015 Washougal
- Eli Tomac – 2020 Ironman
What about a podium? A bit lower, 20th place to 2nd Overall: Michael Byrne – Southwick 2009.
250 Class – Best Improvement from Qualifying to Overall
| Rank | Rider | Event | Qualifying Position | Overall Finish | Improvement |
| 1 | RJ Hampshire | 2018 Ironman | 33 | 2 | +31 |
| 2 | Enzo Temmerman | 2025 Fox Raceway | 48 | 18 | +30 |
| Parker Ross | 2025 Hangtown | 44 | 14 | +30 | |
| 4 | Michael Mosiman | 2018 Ironman | 38 | 9 | +29 |
| 5 | Colt Nichols | 2018 Ironman | 31 | 4 | +27 |
| 6 | Chris Alldredge | 2014 Ironman | 40 | 14 | +26 |
| 7 | Blake Baggett | 2014 Ironman | 34 | 10 | +24 |
| Hayes Edwards | 2026 Southwick | 48 | 24 | +24 | |
| 9 | Gannon Audette | 2011 Spring Creek | 32 | 9 | +23 |
| Levi Kitchen | 2023 High Point | 32 | 9 | +23 | |
| 11 | Tucker Hibbert | 2008 Spring Creek | 34 | 12 | +22 |
| Alex Martin | 2018 Ironman | 32 | 10 | +22 | |
| Jordan Bailey | 2018 Ironman | 39 | 17 | +22 | |
| Tre Fierro | 2026 Southwick | 60 | 38 | +22 | |
| 15 | Dilan Schwartz | 2023 High Point | 33 | 12 | +21 |
| Jo Shimoda | 2024 Southwick | 24 | 3 | +21 |
- For the 250MX class, RJ Hampshire leads the way with +31. Not quite as high as the 450 class but still impressive given he finished 2nd overall.
- Lots of Ironman 2014 and 2018 here, which I believe were both weather impacted races, maybe skewing the qualifying data for those two races.
- How about Tre Fierro qualifying 60th at Southwick this year and got in as an alternate.
- Enzo Temmerman going from 48th to 18th overall is pretty impressive at Fox Raceway in 2025.
So we can see RJ was the best to lowest to podium from 33rd. But what about a winner?
That would be Aaron Plessinger at Ironman 2018 qualifying 19th and then winning the overall.
Thanks for reading! Any questions, hit me up on Twitter or Instagram @MXReference.
